Great Sugar Strike
October 19, 2007 > MAUI TODAY, > Maui Yesterdays No Comments |
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HAWAIIAN WORD OF THE DAY - HANA: Labor, work
HAWAIIAN PROVERB OF THE DAY - “In working one learns.”
October 19, 1946: 21 striking workers of the Maui Agricultural Co. are arrested for unlawful assembly on company grounds. The strike had begun on September 1.
The company, which eventually became Maui Land & Pine, faced what is now called the Great Sugar Strike of 1946.The issues were far more complicated than the simple appearance of some workers wanting more wages. 28,000 people statewide went on strike. The International Labor Workers Union, led by Harry Bridges, had already unionized the dock workers. Now, he wanted the field workers, too, and there was little the company could do.
The strike lasted 79 days. The hang up wasn’t the demand for more wages, from 41 cents an hour to 65 cents an hour. Nor was it the 40-hour work week. Nor the joint union-company administration of perks. It was the demand that the company be a closed shop — no one could work for the company unless they joined the union. Bridges eventually got what he wanted.
